Go to the middle of a "Red State" area, especially rural areas. Country has the same sort of play with the populace as Rap does in many "edgy" TV shows (and more urban areas).
I think the main problem is that I can't see the "books" costing anywhere near real book costs - $20, or even video game costs (to put it against MMORPGs and the subscription model) $60... I'm guessing it'll be closer to $100-$150 at the low end. Of course this will come down in price but it also misses a lot:
First, one main reason I like Digital media is to save space. If I wanted to need an ever larger bookshelf, I'd still use DVDs...
The worst part is with DVDs, I could buy a Sony release, a MGM release, and a Lucasfilm release and use them all at the cost of the movie. This sounds like I'd likely need to buy a "book" for each distributor, plus a subscription, just to get my movie.
Not to mention, I don't want a subscription really, I just want to buy the damn movie. One time. I might not want another movie from that distributor for 10 years!
Lastly, how portable will this really be? Will I be able to easily take it to my friends bookshelf? Can I watch in on my long flight? Will there even be portable versions of the "CPU"?
What if I want to lend my cousin Harry Potter 7 that comes out on this? Can I do that, like I just loan him one DVD, or do I have to loan him my entire collection that comes from that distributor?
I also think that to get the "book" prices down, they might try a cellphone model - but I don't have a cell phone, and I certainly don't want to get into that model of paying for crap - locking myself into a monthly fee for 2 years for one movie!
Honestly, the only way I see a monthly fee really gaining any traction would be for it to work like NetFlix or Rhaposdy - in which case, I'd only need 2 "books" at most, one for movies and one for music. Of course that would exacerbate the above lending dilemma. If I want to lend the latest Nickelback CD to my cousin, I don't want to lose all my music to do so...
In the end, I don't really see this working out. CDs and DVDs already work great for the "physical instantiation" of copyright objects. But it seems that the trend is to get *away* from that hassle of juggling discs, books or whatevers, and just have files stored on the device, or in the net. And people want to be able to use those files like they could the physical objects!
Many even feel that being able to have that file at home, on their iPod and their car stereo should be ok.
What's odd in that is that 19" is a proper television to me... the size of the first "big" television I ever had. In fact, the largest TV I have access to is 27" IIRC. I really can't imagine a monitor as big as that, much less larger. I can't see all of my new 19" at once, much less something that size at computer distances.
See, the thing that is odd for me is that while I like running more than one thing at once, I usually like to *focus* on one thing at a time. I also like having a predictible size window when I open an app - IDK why, but I find that windows seems to occasionally lose the size you had a window at if not maximized, and it's hell to get it back to the right size.
A lot of it is habit - I have no problem not using Notepad maximized, as I never have. OTOH, Opera just seems like it ought to be maximized - it's a big help with having more tabs and room for toolbar buttons - but many websites seem to be designed with 1024x768 or even 800x600 in mind, and don't support reflowing to 1280x1024 - I realize for those of you with 1600x1200 or whatever, you pretty much *could not* maximize the web browser without ludicrous spaces on the sides of many pages.
So, maybe I'll finally start using panels, or not maximizing Opera, but habits are hard to break lol.
Keyboard shortcuts must really shine here... Once you know the shortcuts, keyboard based computing can be a lot faster than messing with the mouse in a lot of situations.
The point is, I've seen too many programs, like Adobe Acrobat, install crap as toolbars and such that is then hard to remove. I just don't even want that possibility.
Well, I understand that. And I'll have to get a certification. But for me personally, I ignore the certs/diplomas whatever on the Mechanics walls. I don't know what they mean anyway.
And in my experiance, a cert just means at some point, the mechanic could pass a test (maybe written, maybe practical) and nothing to me about whether he can fix *my* brakes. Instead, I check around with other people I trust to ask who they've used, and how the work has been.
Now, I know companies can't necessarily do the exact same thing, but isn't that what references and interviews and heck, the probationary period for?
I know that certifications are nice to check off a list, but I think many people find it leads to at best mediocraty.
the intent (though I'm sure it will be used for other things as well) is to share smaller files with close friends. Hopefully, this will be taken into account in the final version.
Yeah, by using something that is designed for that. In fact, the stated goals are almost contradictory to the stated goals and designs of the bittorrent protocol. I mean, yay bittorent is the file transfer buzzword of the century, but look - trading small files with 2 or 3 people isn't what it's designed to do. It won't do it very well.
OTOH, any of a bajillion other designs (including FTP) *were* designed for one to one file transfers, I can't see why someone doesn't just set up a simple interface to FTP or the like...
Hell, this seems like what FTP was designed for 30+ years ago - you set up a server with shared directories, and add authorized users with a password, or allow anyone to access it. And boom, just what this does. And it's been tested for years, there are a bajillion implementations etc...
I find it annoying when there is this overreliance on any one factor. Where I work now, they are all about the A+ cert (a laugh if I ever heard one), don't pay attention to college degrees or even work performance. Not that I plan to stay here long, it's just annoying that a certification counts for more than actually being able to do the job you are hired to do.
As a long time Opera user, proxomitron was in my arsenal for better user agent spoofing, but eventually I found this solution too cumbersome. I don't plan to revisit. We need simpler solutions to expand the userbase. Proxo is much more work than extensions. Proxomitron *can be* more complex/more work than extensions. However, in my experiance, if you use a filterset someone else maintains, it becomes 1) install program/filterset + configure browsers 2) occasionally update filterset 3) know you can rightclick to turn it off if it breaks something.
That's it. I used proxomitron like that for about 3 years before I decided I wanted to learn more.
Is that particularly more difficult than extensions? I mean, I haven't ever used them, but my understanding of them is basically
1) Install extension. Configure as desired. 2) Occasionally update extension or hack if my update to firefox broke it (usually just because of the extension not being auto good for the latest version # increment, not actually a code issue) 3) Know you can uninstall extension if it breaks stuff.
Is there something I'm missing or overstating with extensions? Is it impossible to use proxomitron as indicated? I mean, you weren't looking for adblocking, just flash block, and that really doesn't require you to mess with the filters themselves at all. In terms of whitelisting sites, is adding a url to a text file available from the right click menu of a tray icon much different from going into prefs and adding it there?
Blatent plug - I have a set that I maintain, derived from Grypen (derived from JD5000 - man I sound like Opera's default UA string) that is targeted towards Opera, and delivered as a zip file. Available at www.streamload.com/jp10558/public .
Interestingly enough I have these right now in Opera 8.51:
Flash block. I tried one of the suggested opera user scripts in the past and it failed. No flash block no Opera. It is that simple. By flashblock I mean the same functionality of the plug-in. Plays flash only when clicked. Domain white listing an optional nicety.
I use proxomitron, I maintain an opera modded set at www.streamload.com/jp10558/public . Flashblock, domain whitelist, click to play or save. Also works for java applets. (Oh, I have to get a third party program to do this? Same as extensions for me, and one does soooo much. Too hard? Many people will help/maintain the whole shebang for you, all you have to do is extract a zip file, and maybe setup a shortcut)
A bunch of little text utils that let me, launch text URLs in other tabs, launch a search in another tab, or a definition in another tab. Double click a text URL - select load this url.
Double click the URL - shift or ctrl shift click the go to url. Or, edit the menu ini to add other options in the menu. Same for search and definitons, as well as translations.
Not to mention, Opera ASA FINALLY listened to people who hated editing ini files (OSS people, no way- isn't that how Linux works??) and copied Opera:Config from FF about:config to make many more things editible inside Opera - this will be in v9.
Well, it's been suggested for a sort of "roaming profile". It's currently been implemented by a third party under the name OSync in the forums - as a script that supposedly works in Windows, Linux and MacOSX.
Well, I think the case is that AdBlocking doesn't seem to be a priority for Opera software. Actually I think it has everything to do with how they make money - it's based on ad clicks at google, and similar at other partner sites. They aren't going to introduce something that a) pisses off many websites so they block the browser entirely; and b) destroys their revenue stream.
That said, there is always AdMuncher which does a good job blocking ads, and I use proxomitron which also does a good job.
Actually, I understand people wanting that feature, and if Opera wouldn't be pigheaded, their current keyboard mapping ability *could* allow it if they didn't disallow certain random keys (like enter) from being mapped.
That all said, if you turn off another stupid default (the check for local lan addresses) which should be off by default... then finding www.foo.com from foo is instaneous.
And if you are going to sites frequently, I find (for instance) that setting a bookmark with a nickname is much faster.
sd [enter] is far faster than slashdot [shift]+[enter] or whatever the.org keybinding is.
But it also depends on how you work - I rarely type in url's, I'm clicking them, or copying them. I suppose if you type in a url multiple times a day, that shift-enter and alt enter or whatever is important. ctrl-enter is implemented just as enter (if you remove the search for local addresses) and hence available.
I think if you read the Opera forum wishlists, a large percentage of the vocal base (say up to 60%) actually prefer Opera does not have extensions. Specifically for the reason he listed (though there are many more), security.
I am one of those people, and I am glad Opera doesn't have extensions - for reasons I've expounded on at lenght in several wishlist threads.
Yeah, but basically the uber security of user files (what most home users actually care about) in Linux is the same as any drive image program for any OS.
If I get infected on Windows XP, I don't care, I don't try and clean it or whatever. I just restore the last drive image prior to getting infected.
So basically, there isn't any more security by design in Linux (aside from the obvious use a limited account) - and all the security things basically come down to moving to drive images for backups.
So, system restore was a good idea, but MS didn't take it far enough.
IMHO, what we need is either the equivilent of Acronis TI built in and set up, with AV indicating to restore the last backup rather than attempting to clean shit, or far more granular permissions - per process read/write/execute permissions, with a front end home users can attempt... And, every damn thing needs to be whitelisted.
More like Zone Alarm or Outpost, and less like group policy edits. Hell, I'd do group policy style stuff if I could do it with one XP Pro box by itslef, and if there was useful help to do so.
Opera's voice component already will read web page text on windows. I hope they are working on getting IBM (the developer of the voice technology) to port to the other platforms Opera supports.
You can put stuff on that toolbar with the right click, customize feature. I personally like having the status bar there, but I'm weird, I know. I think it reminds me of Netscape 3.x, but my memory may be wrong.
Opera uses the same core code on all platforms since Opera 7 IIRC, so my guess is that Opera for mac is largely the same as for Linux and Windows. Plus, with IE no longer on the MAC, the choices have shrunk, I would guess that there is some small hope some of the IE users will try Opera and like it - though I expect with Microsoft suggesting Safari as a replacement for MAC IE, less that Opera ASA may like.
How would you expect to realistically merge two extremely different codebases? I can't see it happening in any meaningful way. Plus, why would anyone want to reduce the number of competitors in the browser market? One browser, whoever it is, is bad for the market.
And with there really being only 4 core rendering technologies, do we want to take that down to 3?
The UA.ini featuers (and upcoming site specific features) can be "push" updated in 8.0 and up. That will fake out problem sites. Moreso, browser.js allows Opera ASA to rewrite javascript on problem pages and "push" that as well in updates. That's why the Help -> Report a site problem is useful, and important.
You can also edit Userjs yourself, and UA.ini.
If you want to go beyond js editing in Opera, there is always the venerable and still most powerful proxomitron if you're on windows.
Slashdot Mirror
Go to the middle of a "Red State" area, especially rural areas. Country has the same sort of play with the populace as Rap does in many "edgy" TV shows (and more urban areas).
There's always Acronis.
And I type too fast.
I think the main problem is that I can't see the "books" costing anywhere near real book costs - $20, or even video game costs (to put it against MMORPGs and the subscription model) $60... I'm guessing it'll be closer to $100-$150 at the low end. Of course this will come down in price but it also misses a lot:
First, one main reason I like Digital media is to save space. If I wanted to need an ever larger bookshelf, I'd still use DVDs...
The worst part is with DVDs, I could buy a Sony release, a MGM release, and a Lucasfilm release and use them all at the cost of the movie. This sounds like I'd likely need to buy a "book" for each distributor, plus a subscription, just to get my movie.
Not to mention, I don't want a subscription really, I just want to buy the damn movie. One time. I might not want another movie from that distributor for 10 years!
Lastly, how portable will this really be? Will I be able to easily take it to my friends bookshelf? Can I watch in on my long flight? Will there even be portable versions of the "CPU"?
What if I want to lend my cousin Harry Potter 7 that comes out on this? Can I do that, like I just loan him one DVD, or do I have to loan him my entire collection that comes from that distributor?
I also think that to get the "book" prices down, they might try a cellphone model - but I don't have a cell phone, and I certainly don't want to get into that model of paying for crap - locking myself into a monthly fee for 2 years for one movie!
Honestly, the only way I see a monthly fee really gaining any traction would be for it to work like NetFlix or Rhaposdy - in which case, I'd only need 2 "books" at most, one for movies and one for music. Of course that would exacerbate the above lending dilemma. If I want to lend the latest Nickelback CD to my cousin, I don't want to lose all my music to do so...
In the end, I don't really see this working out. CDs and DVDs already work great for the "physical instantiation" of copyright objects. But it seems that the trend is to get *away* from that hassle of juggling discs, books or whatevers, and just have files stored on the device, or in the net. And people want to be able to use those files like they could the physical objects!
Many even feel that being able to have that file at home, on their iPod and their car stereo should be ok.
What's odd in that is that 19" is a proper television to me... the size of the first "big" television I ever had. In fact, the largest TV I have access to is 27" IIRC. I really can't imagine a monitor as big as that, much less larger. I can't see all of my new 19" at once, much less something that size at computer distances.
See, the thing that is odd for me is that while I like running more than one thing at once, I usually like to *focus* on one thing at a time. I also like having a predictible size window when I open an app - IDK why, but I find that windows seems to occasionally lose the size you had a window at if not maximized, and it's hell to get it back to the right size.
A lot of it is habit - I have no problem not using Notepad maximized, as I never have. OTOH, Opera just seems like it ought to be maximized - it's a big help with having more tabs and room for toolbar buttons - but many websites seem to be designed with 1024x768 or even 800x600 in mind, and don't support reflowing to 1280x1024 - I realize for those of you with 1600x1200 or whatever, you pretty much *could not* maximize the web browser without ludicrous spaces on the sides of many pages.
So, maybe I'll finally start using panels, or not maximizing Opera, but habits are hard to break lol.
Keyboard shortcuts must really shine here... Once you know the shortcuts, keyboard based computing can be a lot faster than messing with the mouse in a lot of situations.
The point is, I've seen too many programs, like Adobe Acrobat, install crap as toolbars and such that is then hard to remove. I just don't even want that possibility.
Well, I understand that. And I'll have to get a certification. But for me personally, I ignore the certs/diplomas whatever on the Mechanics walls. I don't know what they mean anyway.
And in my experiance, a cert just means at some point, the mechanic could pass a test (maybe written, maybe practical) and nothing to me about whether he can fix *my* brakes. Instead, I check around with other people I trust to ask who they've used, and how the work has been.
Now, I know companies can't necessarily do the exact same thing, but isn't that what references and interviews and heck, the probationary period for?
I know that certifications are nice to check off a list, but I think many people find it leads to at best mediocraty.
Try www.hamachi.cc and filesharing app of choice. I like FTP, but you might prefer windows file sharing.
Clients for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.
the intent (though I'm sure it will be used for other things as well) is to share smaller files with close friends. Hopefully, this will be taken into account in the final version.
Yeah, by using something that is designed for that. In fact, the stated goals are almost contradictory to the stated goals and designs of the bittorrent protocol. I mean, yay bittorent is the file transfer buzzword of the century, but look - trading small files with 2 or 3 people isn't what it's designed to do. It won't do it very well.
OTOH, any of a bajillion other designs (including FTP) *were* designed for one to one file transfers, I can't see why someone doesn't just set up a simple interface to FTP or the like...
Hell, this seems like what FTP was designed for 30+ years ago - you set up a server with shared directories, and add authorized users with a password, or allow anyone to access it. And boom, just what this does. And it's been tested for years, there are a bajillion implementations etc...
I find it annoying when there is this overreliance on any one factor. Where I work now, they are all about the A+ cert (a laugh if I ever heard one), don't pay attention to college degrees or even work performance. Not that I plan to stay here long, it's just annoying that a certification counts for more than actually being able to do the job you are hired to do.
As a long time Opera user, proxomitron was in my arsenal for better user agent spoofing, but eventually I found this solution too cumbersome. I don't plan to revisit. We need simpler solutions to expand the userbase. Proxo is much more work than extensions.
Proxomitron *can be* more complex/more work than extensions. However, in my experiance, if you use a filterset someone else maintains, it becomes
1) install program/filterset + configure browsers
2) occasionally update filterset
3) know you can rightclick to turn it off if it breaks something.
That's it. I used proxomitron like that for about 3 years before I decided I wanted to learn more.
Is that particularly more difficult than extensions? I mean, I haven't ever used them, but my understanding of them is basically
1) Install extension. Configure as desired.
2) Occasionally update extension or hack if my update to firefox broke it (usually just because of the extension not being auto good for the latest version # increment, not actually a code issue)
3) Know you can uninstall extension if it breaks stuff.
Is there something I'm missing or overstating with extensions? Is it impossible to use proxomitron as indicated? I mean, you weren't looking for adblocking, just flash block, and that really doesn't require you to mess with the filters themselves at all. In terms of whitelisting sites, is adding a url to a text file available from the right click menu of a tray icon much different from going into prefs and adding it there?
Blatent plug - I have a set that I maintain, derived from Grypen (derived from JD5000 - man I sound like Opera's default UA string) that is targeted towards Opera, and delivered as a zip file. Available at www.streamload.com/jp10558/public .
Interestingly enough I have these right now in Opera 8.51:
Flash block. I tried one of the suggested opera user scripts in the past and it failed. No flash block no Opera. It is that simple. By flashblock I mean the same functionality of the plug-in. Plays flash only when clicked. Domain white listing an optional nicety.
I use proxomitron, I maintain an opera modded set at www.streamload.com/jp10558/public . Flashblock, domain whitelist, click to play or save. Also works for java applets. (Oh, I have to get a third party program to do this? Same as extensions for me, and one does soooo much. Too hard? Many people will help/maintain the whole shebang for you, all you have to do is extract a zip file, and maybe setup a shortcut)
A bunch of little text utils that let me, launch text URLs in other tabs, launch a search in another tab, or a definition in another tab. Double click a text URL - select load this url.
Double click the URL - shift or ctrl shift click the go to url. Or, edit the menu ini to add other options in the menu. Same for search and definitons, as well as translations.
Not to mention, Opera ASA FINALLY listened to people who hated editing ini files (OSS people, no way- isn't that how Linux works??) and copied Opera:Config from FF about:config to make many more things editible inside Opera - this will be in v9.
Well, it's been suggested for a sort of "roaming profile". It's currently been implemented by a third party under the name OSync in the forums - as a script that supposedly works in Windows, Linux and MacOSX.
= 104071
See: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id
Well, I think the case is that AdBlocking doesn't seem to be a priority for Opera software. Actually I think it has everything to do with how they make money - it's based on ad clicks at google, and similar at other partner sites. They aren't going to introduce something that a) pisses off many websites so they block the browser entirely; and b) destroys their revenue stream.
That said, there is always AdMuncher which does a good job blocking ads, and I use proxomitron which also does a good job.
Actually, I understand people wanting that feature, and if Opera wouldn't be pigheaded, their current keyboard mapping ability *could* allow it if they didn't disallow certain random keys (like enter) from being mapped.
... then finding www.foo.com from foo is instaneous.
.org keybinding is.
That all said, if you turn off another stupid default (the check for local lan addresses) which should be off by default
And if you are going to sites frequently, I find (for instance) that setting a bookmark with a nickname is much faster.
sd [enter] is far faster than slashdot [shift]+[enter] or whatever the
But it also depends on how you work - I rarely type in url's, I'm clicking them, or copying them. I suppose if you type in a url multiple times a day, that shift-enter and alt enter or whatever is important. ctrl-enter is implemented just as enter (if you remove the search for local addresses) and hence available.
I think if you read the Opera forum wishlists, a large percentage of the vocal base (say up to 60%) actually prefer Opera does not have extensions. Specifically for the reason he listed (though there are many more), security.
I am one of those people, and I am glad Opera doesn't have extensions - for reasons I've expounded on at lenght in several wishlist threads.
Yeah, but basically the uber security of user files (what most home users actually care about) in Linux is the same as any drive image program for any OS.
If I get infected on Windows XP, I don't care, I don't try and clean it or whatever. I just restore the last drive image prior to getting infected.
So basically, there isn't any more security by design in Linux (aside from the obvious use a limited account) - and all the security things basically come down to moving to drive images for backups.
So, system restore was a good idea, but MS didn't take it far enough.
IMHO, what we need is either the equivilent of Acronis TI built in and set up, with AV indicating to restore the last backup rather than attempting to clean shit, or far more granular permissions - per process read/write/execute permissions, with a front end home users can attempt... And, every damn thing needs to be whitelisted.
More like Zone Alarm or Outpost, and less like group policy edits. Hell, I'd do group policy style stuff if I could do it with one XP Pro box by itslef, and if there was useful help to do so.
Yeah, he could also get 4.25% from HSBC online savings accounts.
Opera's voice component already will read web page text on windows. I hope they are working on getting IBM (the developer of the voice technology) to port to the other platforms Opera supports.
You can put stuff on that toolbar with the right click, customize feature. I personally like having the status bar there, but I'm weird, I know. I think it reminds me of Netscape 3.x, but my memory may be wrong.
Opera uses the same core code on all platforms since Opera 7 IIRC, so my guess is that Opera for mac is largely the same as for Linux and Windows. Plus, with IE no longer on the MAC, the choices have shrunk, I would guess that there is some small hope some of the IE users will try Opera and like it - though I expect with Microsoft suggesting Safari as a replacement for MAC IE, less that Opera ASA may like.
How would you expect to realistically merge two extremely different codebases? I can't see it happening in any meaningful way. Plus, why would anyone want to reduce the number of competitors in the browser market? One browser, whoever it is, is bad for the market.
And with there really being only 4 core rendering technologies, do we want to take that down to 3?
The UA.ini featuers (and upcoming site specific features) can be "push" updated in 8.0 and up. That will fake out problem sites. Moreso, browser.js allows Opera ASA to rewrite javascript on problem pages and "push" that as well in updates. That's why the Help -> Report a site problem is useful, and important.
You can also edit Userjs yourself, and UA.ini.
If you want to go beyond js editing in Opera, there is always the venerable and still most powerful proxomitron if you're on windows.